Moving On
by Songja
Summary: Hunter has something that he has to tell Tori. There are days that he really hates being the older, responsible one.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Power Rangers and their world belong to Disney, not me. I make no money from this. This is just for fun.

Moving On

"Just knock already," Hunter Bradley muttered to himself as he stood outside the door of Tori Hanson's apartment. "It's not like she won't let you in." Of course she would let him in. Hunter was a frequent visitor to Tori's place. They hung out, watched movies, developed lesson plans, worked out together, surfed, rode motocross, all the things they each wished they could be doing with Blake. Blake however was off riding with Factory Blue and had been for eighteen months. The last time they saw him was when the Factory Motocross circuit had a race in Reefside where they encountered the Dino Thunder Rangers.

The door opened and Hunter jumped. Tori stood in the doorway with her head cocked to the side and a half smile on her face. "Were you going to knock any time soon?" she asked amused.

"Uh," Hunter replied running a hand through his hair, "how'd you know I was out here?"

"I heard your bike come into the lot," Tori said as she turned from the door and walked back into her apartment knowing that Hunter would follow her in. "I'm making some pasta, want some?"

Hunter walked in and closed the door behind him before following Tori to her small kitchen and taking a seat at the small table with two chairs, "Sure, I can eat." Anything to get out of the conversation that he knew he had to have with one of his best friends.

"All of you can always eat," Tori said as she poured the boiling water and pasta through a colander in the sink. She took out two plates and served the pasta, drizzling the noodles with olive oil, salt, pepper and some parmesan cheese. She placed the plates on the table with a couple of forks and turned to take a couple of cokes out of the fridge to pour into glasses. "Pay day isn't till tomorrow, so I thought someone might be by."

"We don't always freeload off of you!" Hunter said affronted.

"No," Tori said with a roll of her eyes, "Sometimes you guys freeload off of Cam."

"Hey," Hunter protested.

Tori just smiled and started eating as Hunter glared at her. She continued to ignore him and he gave her one last glare before starting to eat, himself. "So," Tori asked, "besides coming over to bum a meal, what do you need?"

"I don't need anything," Hunter said, "but I have to tell you something."

"What?"

"Have you heard from Blake, recently?"

"Sure, last night. I was on chat with him," Tori said with a smile. Cam had managed to find Tori an inexpensive computer that she set up in her spare bedroom. She and Blake often chatted on Wednesday nights after her classes and his training.

"Did he say anything to you?" Hunter asked carefully avoiding Tori's gaze.

Tori frowned, "About what?"

"Janine," Hunter said miserably.

"Janine? The red-head that rides 125's for Factory Blue?"

"I, uh, picked up the latest moto magazine today. There was an interview with Janine and Blake, Factory Blue's hottest couple."

Tori blinked at Hunter and he finally looked up to see her look at him with a frown as she bit on her lower lip. "I just wanted to be the one to tell you before you saw the article or before Dustin said something stupid and you deserved to know from me."

"Why from you?" Tori asked quietly.

"Because he's my brother and I feel kind of responsible for his actions, I mean, I've always tried to protect him, you know, and I guess I still do, a little. And you're my friend, Tor, my best friend. I didn't want some stranger surprising you with the news. Not that Dustin or Shane or Kelly is a stranger, but you know, to be surprised that the guy that you've liked for forever is suddenly dating someone else. That's harsh." Hunter leaned his elbows on the table and ran his hands through his hair in what Tori recognized as a gesture of frustration. "Tor, you deserve better than this. He's my brother and all, and I love him, but you deserve better than him."

"Hunter, you still think I'm hung up on Blake?" Tori asked.

"You used to talk about him all the time and I know you guys had a thing for each other. You write to him, e-mail, chat with him every week. You are always happy after you get a letter or talk to him," Hunter said pushing back from the table and standing to pace back and forth in Tori's small kitchen.

Tori watched Hunter before sighing and taking their empty plates, silverware and glasses to the sink. Then, she grabbed Hunter by the arm and dragged him into her small living room and pushed him down onto her sofa before taking a seat next to him and laying a hand on his arm. "Hunter, you know I would never lie to you, right?"

"Yeah, Tor, or course, that's why I had to tell you, before anyone else said anything to you," Hunter replied absently.

"Well, then, let me tell you something. When it was all over, and we defeated Lothor, I thought, finally, finally now that the fighting and training and the world saving was over, maybe, maybe we could really look at getting together, go on a date, get walked home and kiss on the doorstep. Then he told me that he was leaving to ride for Factory Blue, and I told him I was excited for him, but all the time I was thinking this was just another way for him to avoid the complication of trying to have a real relationship with me. We never held hands, or kissed or shared any more emotion than I shared with you or Shane or Dustin or Cam. I may have wanted to and maybe he may have wanted to but at the end, when he left, I guess I just thought maybe what he and I had was just friendship and a flirtation. He was the first of my guy friends that I actually thought might be more, but maybe it just wasn't meant to be. When he left, I knew that I wasn't enough to hold him here. I know you weren't the only one Omino Sensei offered a teaching position to. Blake could have stayed, but he wanted to go. So I had to let him go and I had to let go of all the fantasies and dreams and wishes of us being together. That doesn't mean he and I aren't friends, because we all went through so much as rangers that it's unthinkable that we couldn't be friends, but I couldn't ask him to stay and he didn't ask me to go with him."

"But when we met the Dino Rangers, he was so worried about you," Hunter said.

"Blake and I have stayed close. Hunter, if you had been mind controlled, he would have been just as agitated if not more," Tori replied with a smile, "And you can't tell me that you and Cam didn't worry about me more than the other guys. I know I'm the only girl. The reason I learned to hit so hard was so that the guys would stop worrying about me so much."

Hunter snorted, "Let's not mention how much you get away with being the only girl."

"Not true," Tori replied.

Hunter had to admit, she was right. She trained just as hard as them. She never used her sex as an excuse to slack off, in fact, she often had to work harder, train harder to make up for the lack of sheer physical strength that the guys had. She was a compassionate and insightful instructor, able to teach the whole student, heart, mind, spirit and body. She was adored by the guys because while she was one of them, in so many ways, just by being female, she balanced them.

"You're right," Hunter said, "that was not true, I'm sorry."

"Forgiven," Tori said quite used to the way that the guys often spoke first then regretted what they said, or if the statement was feminist, she made them regret what they said. "Anyway," she continued, "Hunter, I totally knew about Blake and Janine." She almost broke into a laugh at the expression on Hunter's face. "Hunter, Blake could barely talk to me when he was interested in me? How do you think he got anywhere near Janine without asking someone for help and advice. He wasn't going to ask you, he wasn't able to ask you about me. He wasn't going to take any ribbing from the guys, not to mention they might go ballistic, overprotective over me. He couldn't talk to any of the guys on the tour and totally lose face about being clueless with girls. So, he chatted with me, IM, letters, phone calls."

Hunter looked at her shocked, "How could he do that to you? How dare he do that to you? That's totally wrong!"

Tori snorted, "There is nothing wrong. Hunter, if it had been right after he left, when I was still feeling betrayed by his decision to leave, that would have been bad and there would have been lots of complaining because I would have been taking all that anger, frustration, sorrow and hurt out on you guys when we trained. But it's been almost a year, he had already extended his contract to three years and I figured he wasn't going to be back any time soon, so I guess I figured to let him go. And when he started asking me for help with Janine, it was just as amusing to be on the side rooting for him and just being as good a friend to him as I could. He's so totally head over heals for her and she's where he is."

"And what about you?" Hunter asked softly.

"What about me?"

"He's fallen in love. He's got you for a friend. He's doing what he wants to do. What about you?"

"I am doing what I want to do. I teach at the school, I surf at the beach, I train with my friends."

"You know what I mean," Hunter said, "That's all you do, what about finding someone for yourself?"

"Why would I do that? I don't need anyone, I have you guys. I'm so busy teaching at the school and taking night classes at the college that I don't have time for a boyfriend."

"This is our fault, isn't it? The guys and me."

"This has nothing to do with you guys."

"Tori, don't even try to give me that crap. First it was just you, Dustin, Shane and Cam. They never looked at you. You were one of the guys. Remember the whole trapped in a camera, Dill thing?" Hunter pressed.

"How do you know about that?"

"Cam kept records of all your battles, remember? When Blake and I showed real interest in fighting as a team, Cam gave us a whole bunch of old fights to watch, to get a handle on your style. We had to get the whole story when we saw you fighting your double," Hunter said. "We had to ask the guys how that whole thing happened. Kelli overheard Blake and I talking about the magazine shoot at work one day and she explained the whole thing, especially when it had to do with the guys ignoring you as a girl and scaring the guys off."

Tori gave him a wry look, "They just didn't get it. I was one of the guys. You and Blake helped me get over that."

"Me?"

"Yeah," Tori smiled, "The first time we met. Shane overheard your conversation. When Blake called me hot and you agreed."

Hunter blinked at Tori, his cheeks turning a ruddy red. "Uh, yeah," he said with an embarrassed smile on his face, "Well, Blake thought you were hot."

Tori just rolled her eyes, "Yeah, well, it helped. I wasn't just another guy to you and Blake. But that doesn't mean that just because Blake has a girlfriend, I need to go out to get a boyfriend to prove something. Hunter, I'm really o.k. about the whole thing."

"Whatever you say, Tori," Hunter acquiesced, although he looked as if he wanted to continue the argument. "What have you got?" he said looking though the packages from Netflix scattered on her coffee table.

Giving Hunter an odd look, Tori riffled through the packages until she found an action flick that she kept on hand for when the guys came over. As she popped it into the player and turned down the lights, Hunter went to the kitchen for drinks and a tub of ice cream. Very companionably, the curled up on her sofa and half way though the movie, Tori had fallen asleep on Hunter's lap, drinks and empty tub of ice cream on the floor. Hunter smiled down at Tori and gently ran his fingers through her hair as he watched the film and wondered if she had lied about the situation with Blake.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Power Rangers, the charachters and their world are not mine. Nor is Ben & Jerry's Phish Food Ice Cream.

Moving On

Hunter trotted down the steps to Ninja Ops. He had received a strange message from Cam and had come over to the wind school directly after classes at the thunder school ended. He came around the bend of the rock tunnel and smiled when he saw the restored Ninja Ops with Cam sitting at his computer and Dustin and Shane sitting at the table arguing over some magazine. "Hey, guys," he said, although Cam must have known he was on his way down when the waterfall portal activated. Dustin and Shane fell silent and Cam turned in his chair to face the room. They all looked at him with serious expressions. Hunter shifted slightly and frowned, "Uh, what's up? Where's Tori?"

Now the guys looked away from Hunter. Shane and Dustin looked down at the table and Cam stood from his seat and moved to the table. It looked like something serious was going down and where was Tori? Hunter frowned and took a seat on a cushion at the table.

"Dude, something has happened," Dustin said solemnly. Hunter had rarely heard such a serious tone out of Dustin.

"And it has to do with Tori," Shane continued, "that's why she's not here."

"Something is wrong with Tori?" Hunter asked confused, "I was just over at her place last night, she was fine."

Every one was silent for a moment before, "Dude," Dustin said with an excited look, "Maybe she doesn't know, yet. Maybe we can totally keep this from her!"

"Yes and how are you going to do that? She's going to find out the instant she walks into Stormchargers," Cam said wryly.

"We could like hide all the magazines and turn off the TVs when she comes in. I'll tell Kel not to tell her. We could totally keep this from her."

Shane rolled his eyes and slapped Dustin lightly on the back of the head. "That's not going to work."

"Someone want to tell me what's going on?" Hunter asked.

Shane closed the magazine that he and Dustin were looking at and turned it around so that Hunter could see it upright. The front cover had Blake and Janine on the front. It looked like he had just won a race and she had her arms wrapped around him. They were smiling goofily at each other. Hunter smiled remembering how Blake used to look at Tori like that. The headline read "Blake and Janine, on and off the track."

"Tori's going to flip when she finds out," Shane said sadly.

"Dude, remember how depressed she was after he left?" Dustin asked.

"Yes," Cam said crankily, "I really don't want to go trough the chick flick and ice cream marathon again."

Hunter smirked remembering how the guys had gone out of their way to try and make Tori feel better after Blake left. One memorable night had them watching everything from "A Mirror has Two Faces" to "Kate and Leopold" with cartons and cartons of Ben and Jerry ice cream. He often blamed that evening for his addiction to Phish Food.

"It's o.k. guys, she already knows," Hunter said looking at the cover of the magazine with a soft smile. "She's o.k."

Eyebrows rose. "She knows?" Cam asked.

"Yeah, her words were something like. Blake couldn't get it together with her. How was he going to get together with anyone without help? Dude, she's been totally giving him advice on how to snag Janine."

A sudden stillness filled the room and Hunter looked up to see three faces looking at him with a mixture of shock and outrage. After a long minute, Dustin broke the silence, "Dude, that is so wrong." Shane nodded in agreement. Cam's jaw hardened.

"Look, she said she was o.k. with it," Hunter argued, "I was shocked, too."

"Is that how you know she knows?" Cam asked softly.

Hunter sighed, "I saw the mag and I went over there to break the news to her before she got shocked seeing something on ESPN or in Stormchargers, or before Dustin said something. She fed me and told me she totally knew and that she was totally fine with it."

Shane was shaking his head, "That is so wrong. You don't ask a girl that was crushing on you to help you get with another girl."

"Guys," Cam said reasonably, "It has been a year and a half, maybe Tori is over him."

"It's still wrong, man," Shane retorted.

"Whether or not Tori's over him, I still think we should go thump on him," Dustin said emphatically, "It's the principle of the thing."

"And what principle would that be?" Cam asked rolling his eyes.

"No one does anything that messes with our Tori," Shane and Dustin said in unison.

Cam shook his head and Hunter stifled a laugh with a cough. "What are you guys, five years old?" Hunter said.

"Dude, don't think you are fooling us," Shane said, "I bet you went over to Tori's all worried about her, too. You were just glad that she knew so you didn't have to tell her."

"I was gladder that she didn't cry all over me," Hunter mumbled.

"Well I think-," Dustin started before another voice broke into their discussion causing the guys to freeze.

"I think, maybe you should ask me how I feel about all this." Four pairs of eyes turned towards the entrance to Ninja Ops where Tori stood, arms folded, casually leaning against the rock wall. "Hey, Hunter, Sensei said he saw you streaking in."

"Uh, hi, Tori," he said uncomfortably before turning to glare at the three wind ninjas.

"Hey, Tor," Shane said popping up and moving in front of her as Dustin grabbed the magazine off the table and shoved it under his cushion. "What's up?"

"Oh, I don't know," Tori said with a glance over his shoulder at the three guilty looking ninjas, "looks like a ranger pow wow is up, without one of the local rangers. Blake, I can understand, but to exclude me?" Large blue eyes turned sorrowfully to Shane, "I'm hurt."

"Oh, dude," Dustin murmured softly.

Shane squirmed uncomfortably running a hand though his hair as he looked over his shoulder at the guys for help. He hated when Tori looked at him with that kicked puppy expression. Cam just looked down at the table, his lip twitching, while Hunter coughed to hide a laugh. Dustin pretended interest in a blank computer screen. None of the guys could deny her when she used the kicked puppy expression. Luckily, or more intelligently, she never overplayed it, but wasn't above using it to her advantage. Shane didn't have a chance.

He held out for about five seconds, before he threw his head back and addressed the ceiling, "Tor, we found out about Blake and Janine today and we were trying to figure out how to break the news to you, but then Hunter said you already knew, and we don't want you to go all depressed on us again, because Cam really doesn't like Barbara Streisand and we can still all streak over to wherever he is right now to thump on him."

Tori blinked and her lips twitched, "Thump on him?" she asked.

"Yeah," Dustin said, "on principle, you know?"

"And what principle would that be?" Tori asked walking past a relieved Shane to sit next to Dustin.

"You know, principle," Dustin was now looking for help and three sets of eyes avoided his until he was drawn back to Tori with a bright, fake smile.

Tori shook her head and patted Dustin on the shoulder giving him a smile. He sighed knowing he was off the hook and grinned back at her. She looked at each of the guys, "Do you know what the best thing in my life is?" she asked. Shane pulled up another cushion and sat. "I know that I have five wonderful people in my life that want the best for me. That number includes Blake. Look guys, Blake and I may have been crushing on each other for a long time, but that doesn't mean one or another of us can't move on. He's been gone over a year now and he's not coming back for at least another two. I totally am fine with this."

Dustin slowly pulled the magazine from beneath his pillow and placed it in front of Tori. No one spoke as Tori smiled sadly at the cover and ran a finger over Blake's form. "There's just something about having been a ranger," she continued softly. She looked at each of the guys in turn, "All of us, no matter what, we're not going to stop being connected, being friends, even when what we do may hurt someone else." She looked back at the magazine, "And when I had the chance to help him be happy, how could I tell him no?"

Dustin reached up and put an arm around her and Tori leaned her head on his shoulder, a tear slipping out the corner of her eye that Shane reached out and brushed away. "Oh, Tori," Cam said softly.

Shane looked Hunter in the eye, "See, this is why we should thump him."

Tori just snorted, "You don't need to thump him, Shane. He was so embarrassed and guilty when he told me he was interested in Janine. He thought I was going to hate him forever. Not to mention, I hit harder than you.

"I really wasn't waiting for him or anything, and as I tried to get through to Hunter, I just haven't found anyone I'm interested in dating, yet."

"But we'll be the first to know," Hunter said sharply.

"What you are going to monitor my dating?" Tori said incredulous sitting up straight.

"Damn right, we are," Shane seconded.

"Yeah, at least with Blake, we totally knew him and could totally keep and eye on the both of you," Dustin said, "If you start dating some other dude."

Tori shot an exasperated look over to Cam, "Don't look at him, Blondie," Hunter said baldly, "who do you think can run a background check better than the FBI?"

Tori looked from Cam to Hunter then Shane and Dustin. She dropped her forehead to the table and moaned, "I am never dating again."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: As previous parts state, the Ninja Storm Power Rangers and their world does not belong to me.

AN: Thanks to all who have reviewed. I really appreciate your comments. Also, for some reason, I couldn't get the e-mail address format to work. sigh

Moving On

To: bluesurferchick at bbhcomm. net

From : JLangley at FactoryBlue. com

Subject: Hello

Dear Tori,

I wanted to introduce myself and Blake gave me your e-mail address, I hope you don't mind. I guess the first thing I want you to know is that we didn't plan this. When Blake and I first met, when I joined Factory Blue a little over eight months ago, I thought wow, but you know, I'm a racer, and I've been hanging out with guys around the track since I was a little kid, and I know how they operate.

After awhile, you settle into being team mates. You hang out on the bus together, work on the bikes, and play poker in the hotel room at night. Then you start talking about where you came from. I was a tomboy from Kansas, the youngest of four kids and the only girl. We used ATV's out on the farm and I was riding as soon as I could touch the pedals and handlebars at the same time. My brothers rode bikes and I was going to ride, too.

Blake's stories were full of racing at the track with his brother, working at a sports shop with Dustin, Shane and Kelli, playing computer games with Cam and Cy and surfing with you. He talked about you a lot and I totally thought I didn't have a chance.

I didn't know what changed. All of a sudden, he was different. Not that he wasn't still Blake, but we started hanging out more, just me and him and while he told me stories about what was going on back home, there was less of Tori said this and Tori said that. Then there were the flowers and chocolates and my own set of Allen wrenches, which I think is some kind of joke, but was still very sweet of him, if not a little weird.

And we started talking, about all sorts of things, how we felt about racing, about who we are and I was a goner. About a week ago, when Motocross asked us to consider the article, I asked him what changed, how did he know that he wanted to go out with me? He said he knew he liked me because he felt guilty about you and when he talked to you, you told him to go for it, go for me. He also said that you gave him advice every step of the way. That he and I wouldn't be here now if he hadn't had you to talk to, to ask questions, to voice his doubts.

I guess I want to say thank you. Thank you for being the person you are, for being the friend you are. I know he still talks to you. Wednesday night is his IM night and I know it's mostly with you. Back when we first were hanging out, I used to sit and watch TV in his room when he chatted with you. I'd get this really funny one sided commentary. Then after we started dating, he wanted to do the IM thing without me in the room. I think he feels bad about talking to you about me if I'm in the room.

Anyway, Blake and I are thinking about going to Blue Bay for Thanksgiving. I would love to meet you. I would like to be your friend.

Sincerely,

Janine Langley

Tori blinked at the screen. When she had seen the unfamiliar Factory Blue e-mail address, she was a little hesitant to click on the message. It had to be from her, but why in the world was she writing to a complete stranger? How odd. And now, how was Tori to respond? She clicked on the reply button and a blank screen came up. Her hands poised on the keyboard, her mind blank.

She actually jumped when the phone rang. With a sigh of relief, she stood from her computer and went to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hey, Tori," Blake's familiar voice filled her ear and she smiled, even as her chest tightened.

"Hey, Blake, how are you?" She moved to her sofa and settled into a corner, "Where are you?"

"Washington state. We got some down time. It's been raining cats and dogs and the track is soaked. Hunter would love it. It would be an excuse as to why he got all muddy."

Tori smiled, "And it would totally ruin your clean image," she retorted.

"Hey, when you are out in front all the time, no one's kicking mud on you."

"Tell me what's going on."

"I'm sorry."

Tori blinked confused, "For what?"

"I should have told you about the magazine article. I should have told you that there was going to be a big thing about me and Janine going public."

Tori's lips twitched, "Who called you?"

"Yeah, well," Blake broke off and Tori could almost see his sheepish smile.

"I won't pound on any of them and I won't tell any of them that you told," Tori said flatly.

"It wasn't cool for you to find out from someone else."

Tori shook her head and sighed, "Blake, you have got to get over this guilt thing. I was told about the magazine before I saw it and it's not like I didn't know about you and Janine. In fact, I have it on expert authority that I am the sole reason you guys are together."

"Huh?"

"I got an e-mail today."

"Oh."

"She sounds very nice."

"Uh, you o.k. with that?"

"That she wrote to me? It was a little strange, I guess, because I don't know her at all, but she's your girlfriend. You look totally in love with her."

"Dustin said you were crying. Tor, I would never want to make you cry."

"Dustin, huh?" Tori said blinking back tears and trying not to sound stuffy.

"Tori? Tor. God, Tor, I don't know what to do, or what to say."

"Don't," she finally gave in to a snuffle, "Blake, look, this is just a totally girly reaction. I'm not crying because I'm hurt or sad. . ."

"Yeah, right, Tor, because you cry all the time," Blake said in a worried voice.

"Sometimes a girl has got to cry as she lets go. It's not even you I'm letting go of, I did that awhile ago. Maybe it's the fantasy that you'd come back when your contract is done and we could see what would happen."

"Did I make it harder? I couldn't lose you, Tor. Should I have just not kept in touch, let the whole thing between us just go away?"

Tori shrugged, even though she knew that Blake couldn't see her. "I don't think so. I would have just hunted you down and made you miserable for ignoring me. We're too much a part of each other, all of us are. You and me and Cam, Shane, Dustin and Hunter, we're too close to do that to each other."

"Even if you get hurt?" Blake asked gently.

"Even if I get hurt."

"You know you and the guys and Sensei are the closest thing Hunter and I have to family, right."

"I know. We know."

"They all called me," Blake said sounding amused, "Hunter chewed me out and was all upset because he agonized about breaking the news to you when you already knew. Shane was all righteous indignation, Dustin just kept mumbling about principles and thumping and how lucky I was that Sensei would never agree to them streaking up here just to thump on me and Cam was horribly sarcastic about the whole thing and was pretty creative about what he would do to me if he had to sit through another chick flick night. Even Cyber Cam got on the phone to say how uncool I had been to you."

Tori let go of a small laugh, "Now I'm sorry."

"Yeah, and you better watch out for Cy, I think he has a thing for you," Blake said relief in his voice that he had gotten her to laugh.

"Yeah, well, maybe I can get him to go surfing with me."

"I miss you, Tor, you know that right. I miss all of you, but you're our girl, you know that right?"

"I know."

"Look, I got to go. I just wanted to check in and let you know that I'm thinking about you and we are worried about you. And I'm sorry. I love you, you know."

"Love you, too, Blake," Tori said, "Bye." She waited for Blake to say good bye and when she heard the click of him hanging up, she put the phone receiver down. She took a couple of deep breaths as she looked around her empty apartment and sighed to herself.

Suddenly making a decision, she stood and moved back to her computer. She sat at the keyboard and began:

To: JLangley at Factoryblue. com

From: bluesurferchick at bbhcomm. net

Subject: Re: Hello

Dear Janine,

Wow. I was totally surprised to receive the e-mail from you. Thank you for writing. . .


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Still not mine. Can I stop doing these now?

Moving On

Cameron blinked at his double. "You aren't going to tie me up in the server closet again if I say 'no,' right?" Cam started flexing his fingers, itching to code. Coding calmed him down, ordered his world. Cyber Cam had just tilted his world off its axis and Cam had the insane urge to do something to put it right again.

"Come on, flesh-bro, what could be the harm. All the dudes want the Tori-Tor to get over the whole Blake and Janine thing. What's the problem with me taking her out to go dancing?" Cyber Cam said with an earnest grin on his face as he absently typed on the computer mainframe, "All you would have to do is loosen the restrictions so that I can take her into town for an evening and then poof, reset them back. Dude, all she's got to do is hit a club and she'll be the most babealicious thing there. All the guys will want to be with her. She'll get a ton of dates. Find the right guy and, bam, no more sad Tori. What could be better than that?"

"I was thinking what could be worse than four overprotective guys wanting to threaten any guy that approached her," Cam said dryly. Cam folded his arms and leaned against the wall as he watched Cy with his goofy green hat at the main console. He was completely baffled as to where Cy came up with the idea. Since he reprogrammed him to focus on Ninja Ops and support systems, Cy had never voiced the urge to go off the campus grounds until now.

Cam's twin turned in the chair, "I'm just talking me and her. There would be no four overprotective guys hovering around. She can totally make her own choices, dude. Tori's the smart one, remember?"

"Like a date? Just the two of you on a date? Do you have a thing for Tori?" Cam asked incredulous.

Cyber Cam gave Cam a huge grin and smugly replied, "Not any more than you do, bro."

Cameron brought his right hand to his forehead in a futile effort to massage away the headache that was forming there. He so didn't need to think about this today. "That was a long time ago. And I can't believe I'm talking about my unrequited crush on Tori to my cybernetic double."

"Well, you could talk about this unrequited crush to me."

Cam whirled at the sound of Hunter's voice and now he brought both hands to his forehead, "God, could this get any worse?" he muttered to himself while Cyber Cam just gave Hunter an enthusiastic greeting.

"Sure," Hunter replied with a grin as he pushed away from the entrance to Ninja Ops that he had been leaning against the door and strolled casually into the room, "It could be Tori who heard about you and Cy crushing on her instead of me."

"I'm not crushing, big thunder dude. I was just thinking about taking the Tori-babe clubbing if flesh-bro here would let me out for a night. She could totally hook some hot guy."

Hunter went over to where Cyber Cam sat at the console and put a hand on his shoulder. Over the past couple of years, the cybernetic being had become less of a Cam back up and more of a Cam twin. Although still a little weird, they all became used to having Cam the serious one and Cy the polar opposite. "Dude, she doesn't need our help. Tori could totally hook any guy she wants," Hunter said seriously.

"Except Blake," Cy said with a bit of accusation in his voice.

Hunter sighed and raised his hands in a "not me" gesture before stepping back, "Hey, I'm the first guy to say Blake was an idiot when it came to Tori," then he flashed a smirk towards Cam, "but it seems he wasn't the only one."

Cam gave Hunter a dry look that promised retribution at some future date. "So what do you think about Cy's idea, should we let him take Tori out and encourage her in the dating game?"

Hunter's brow furrowed as if he never thought of the words Tori and dating in the same sentence before. "I guess so, if she wants. I always figured after Blake left, if she wanted to date she would. I never really thought about it. I mean, the chick flick fest was bad, but until this whole thing with Janine I totally thought she was over Blake. She says she is."

"Yeah, well some things, like magazine covers, tend to sneak up on you and make you face all sorts of buried feelings," Cam said sarcastically.

"Huh," Hunter grunted acknowledging the truth in that statement.

"All I'm saying is the pretty T-Bird and I will go hit a club. She loves to dance and I can totally bust a move," Cy said, as he turned back to the computer with a shrug, "I wouldn't let anything happen to her. Not like she can't kick butt all on her own, but, dude, it might make her feel better to get out and into circulation."

"I don't think she's really feeling bad," Cam said.

"She was crying," Hunter pointed out.

"She said it was no big deal," Cam said, "I am inclined to trust Tori."

"You don't want her rebounding on some horrible guy," Hunter said.

"Who's talking about rebounding? You can't rebound if you never dated and you are totally over someone."

"Dude, that's why I'd be there to keep an eye on her," Cy protested.

Both Hunter and Cam turned to Cy before looking back at each other. Finally, Hunter said as he starting to pace the room, "On one hand, I totally agree with Cam, if Tori had wanted to go out with someone, anyone over the past year, I think she would have. On the other hand, Cy could be right, maybe encouraging her to go out wouldn't be a bad thing. I mean she tends to live her life here and at the beach. On the other hand, it's not like there aren't guys here and at the beach that she could totally go out with either, I mean what am I, chopped liver? On the other hand, she could totally be hiding from life here and at the beach because she knows that she's just one of the guys and," Hunter stopped and looked at his hands, "That was too many hands."

Cam and Cy blinked at Hunter. Hunter looked up at them confused, "What?"

Cam and Cy looked at each other. Now, a little wigged out, Hunter asked again, more forcefully, "What?"

"Did you just hear what you said?" Cam asked.

"What about the too many hands? Yeah, I wasn't keeping things straight in my head. Maybe I have to write it all down," Hunter said half to himself.

"No, dude, what you said about chopped liver?" Cy said sitting back amused by the way things were turning out. "You are totally right, there are lots of guys here and at the beach. You know a whole bunch of them. Maybe you should encourage one of them to ask her out."

"Cy!" Cam admonished.

"What? He hangs out with her the most, at the beach, at the track, all he would have to do is find out who Tori would like to go out with and we could totally set it up!" Cy said excitedly.

"That is an idea. Not that the dancing thing was a bad idea. Maybe I could take her to a club, too. She would like that. Maybe this weekend," Hunter continued to mutter to himself as he left Ninja Ops.

Cam looked at Cyber Cam and shook his head. "I can't figure out what's worse, that you just totally manipulated Hunter into asking Tori out, or that Hunter is so absolutely clueless about what he feels for Tori."

Cy grinned at Cam and turned back to the computer. "Just call me the king of matchmaking." Cy said with a grin.

Cam was startled by the hurried sound of feet on the stairs to Ninja Ops and feel into a defensive stance even as he registered that it was his two cousins clattering down the stairs. They burst into the room with a burst of chatter, "Did it work? We just saw him leave. What did he say? Cy, you are the best!"

Cam's eyes narrowed, "Cy, Kapri, Marah? What are you up to?"

"Hi, cousin!" Marah waved happily at him with a megawatt smile.

"Yes, hello, cousin," Kapri said dismissively as she demanded, "Spill, Cy!"

"Hook, line and sinker," Cy gloated with a huge grin at the two formerly evil space alien ninjas who jumped in excitement and clapped their hands giddily.

"You so rock," Kapri said.

"We totally knew you could do it!" Marah gushed.

"Do what?" Cam asked at a loss. He was frequently at a loss when it came to the way his cousins thought. His headache was coming back with a vengeance. "Will you three please stop with the Cy admiration society and tell me what is going on?"

Kapri huffed as she turned to Cam with her hands on her hips, "You are always so nosy. Why do you always have to know what's going on? Can't some of us plot in peace?"

Cam narrowed his eyes, the girl's last "plot" had been the crazy idea to get some use out of the old habitat that his father had used and they purchased a guinea pig. However, this guinea pig wasn't sentient and he managed to get away from the girls and chew up a number of computer system wires that Cam had to replace, multiple times. The habitat was not set up to cage a pet. That had eventually been fixed, but Marah was always scolding the little thing for trying to eat his pagoda, no matter how many times Cam told her that it was just instinct and there was nothing they could do about it.

Marah rolled her eyes merrily, "We just got Hunter to ask Tori out!" she stated triumphantly. "I bet they are together within a month."

Cam's brow furrowed and he sighed before saying patiently, "That may not have been so good an idea."

"Why not?" Kapri asked in a matter of fact tone, "He is totally into her and she's totally into him. They just have to realize it."

"I think there's a little more to it than that." Cam said.

"Oh, you mean the whole Blake thing?" Kapri said dismissively, "They are both so totally over that. They just have to realize that it doesn't matter. It's not about Blake; it's about them and how much they like each other and how well they get along and oh so many things."

Marah walked up to Cam and wrapped herself around one of his arms, "It'll be o.k., cousin. Kapri's the best at figuring this stuff out. Cy did exactly what we told him to do and Hunter did exactly what we thought he'd do."

"You can't just think that because people react how you think they will that they won't surprise you," Cam said with a sigh.

"Don't worry," Kapri said leaning up against the console chair where Cy sat grinning through the whole conversation, "Everything is going to work out just fine."

Cam shook his head, "I hope so, girls, I really hope so."


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Still, nothing is mine.

Moving On

Hunter scanned the beach and casually walked up to a bunch of guys sitting and watching the waves. They had a bunch of surf and wake board scattered around them and it looked like they were taking a breather. "Hey, Roy," he called casually recognizing one of the guys who also hung out at the motocross track.

"Hunter, what you doing out here?" Roy said standing to do the male butting hands ritual, "Guys, this is Hunter. He hangs at the moto track. He's Blake Bradley's brother."

"Dude, your bro rides sick, man. John," one of the tanned buff men offered a hand and Hunter took it.

"You look nothing like your bro," another offered a hand, "Tim."

"We're adopted," Hunter offered the familiar response to the familiar statement.

More names were exchanged with casual greetings. "You not out there today?" One of the guys asked recognizing Hunter as a casual surfer.

"Nah, just picking up Tori for lunch."

"The hot blonde?" Roy asked and a couple of guys grinned at each other.

"Yeah," Hunter said with a small grin, "Dude, I don't know why she can't get a guy." He noted in satisfaction that a number of eyes turned out to check out Tori sitting on the water. A set came through and Tori took a wave like a pro.

"She's good. How do you know Tori?" Tim asked casually.

"She and my brother had a thing a while ago. She was teaching him to surf and he was teaching her to ride. So I saw her around a lot," Hunter said trying to act as if giving out information about Tori was no big deal.

"She teach you how to surf, too?" Roy asked with a leer, nudging him in the shoulder.

Hunter saw red, but stopped himself and took a breath in and unclenched his jaw. This was just guy talk. He could do guy talk about Tori. "Yeah, Blake was all worried about her surfing and riding alone, so made me promise to check up on her. She's cool."

"Yeah, like an iceberg," one of the guys laughed and Hunter had to force himself to unclench his hands before he knocked the guy on the chin.

"Only 'cause you tried to cop a feel that time you tried to 'teach her how to surf'," another guy laughed punching him in the arm.

"Dude, Tori doesn't need lessons. She surfs better than you," was the good natured reply and more ribbing followed. Hunter tried to smile as the guys bantered back and forth. This is what he wanted, right, for some guy to notice Tori, to help her get over Blake.

"You should ask her for a ride to the Turtle Cove Meet coming up," Tim said nudging one of the guys. Jake, Hunter thought his name was. He seemed pretty quiet and intent on watching Tori out on the water.

"Yeah, I'm sure she can give you a ride in that van of hers," another guy said snickering, and the guys closest to him pushed at him good naturedly.

God, Hunter thought in amazement, it's a miracle any guy got a date at all. If girls heard how they talked about them. Suddenly, Jake spoke, "Maybe I should. She would toast all the girls in her division."

A couple of guys agreed and started commenting on her style and surfing ability. Hunter slowly relaxed as the conversation moved to the technical aspects of surfing. His eyes followed Tori's every move and he realized, probably for the first time, what guys saw when they looked at Tori. The thought came unbidden into his mind, but she's so much more. He blinked startled, a dawning horror coming over his face.

Tori narrowed her eyes as she sat on her surfboard and watched Hunter chat with a bunch of guys on the beach. He said he was going to meet her for lunch after he had his morning beach run. Usually he was late, not that Tori minded the extra minutes out on the ocean, especially if the waves were good. Today, however, Hunter was early and instead of trying to hook up with any cute girls at the beach while he waited for her to get out of the water like he usually did, he was talking to a bunch of the regular surfers. Unless he had suddenly turned gay over night, something was up.

Resigned to going in, she waited for a final wave to ride in and then nimbly hopped off her board and undid her leg leash before doing one last rinse in the ocean water. Hunter trotted up to her, "Let's go Tor, I'm hungry. A couple of the guys were mentioning how there's a competition coming up at Turtle Cove, going to go?"

"You were talking to them about a surf competition?" Tori asked confused as she picked up her board, which Hunter immediately took from her as they walked up the beach to the fresh water showers.

"Uh, yeah," Hunter said suddenly glaring up the beach. "I was pointing you out and they said you were really good and should enter. Some Jake guy."

"Jake?" Tori game him an odd look, but then shrugged. She wasn't going to let Hunter's odd mood ruin the morning rush she got out of having a good ride. She scooped up her towel and beach bag on the way to the showers and handed Hunter the keys to her van. He obligingly took off to stow her surf board while Tori went to clean off a bit.

She stood under the fresh water to get the sticky feel of salt off her skin. She smiled as she stripped off the top of her wet-suit, revealing her blue tank suit underneath, to rinse out her hair. Coming out of the shower spray and opening her eyes, she noticed a number of the local surfers nudge each other and look surreptitiously at her than at each other. Thinking this was unusual behavior, but deciding to ignore it, she stepped out of her wet suit. Maybe they were still thinking about her in the surf competition. She rinsed out her wetsuit as she usually did and when she was done, moved to her bag to pull out some hair conditioner and a comb.

She started to untangle her hair when a voice called out, "Hey, Tori!"

She looked up to see one of Shane's cousins approaching. "Hey, Valu, how are you?" She waved at his friends, who had joined the bunch of local surfers as she was cleaning off the ocean water and sand.

Very casually, he leaned in for a brief hug and kiss on the cheek, a familiar greeting among Shane's Polynesian family. When he was standing very close to her, he said under his breath, "You got a cover up in that bag, girl? You got a serious audience."

Tori's brows furrowed, "What?" she asked as she quickly finished with her hair and then dug into her bag to pull out a long sarong skirt that she deftly tied around her hips. She took a casual glance around and noticed the now fairly large group of guys that she knew trying to look like they weren't checking her out. "How weird."

"What don't think you are pretty enough to be noticed?" Valu asked with a laugh tugging at a strand of dark blond hair.

"No, it's not that," Tori said with a grin at the handsome young man, "It's just this is kind of strange. You know most times, I'm one of the guys and none of them ever notice me at all. It's not like I've done anything different today than I usually do and I'm not even in one of my 'I wanna look hot at the beach bikinis' and suddenly today everyone's checking me out. Guys that never looked twice at me before?"

Valu shrugged and said with a wide smile, "Well, pretty girl, just to let you know, the sarong doesn't hide any of your curves. I gotta hit the waves. See you?" He leaned in again for a kiss on the cheek and jogged back to his friends as Tori waved at him.

"Friend of yours?" Hunter had approached and was glaring at the tanned young man that was trotting down the beach with a long board under his arm.

"Valu, he's one of Shane's cousins. He's a nice guy. Plays guitar and has the voice of an angel," Tori said as she slipped into a casual, almost sheer beach cover-up.

"Sounds like you like him," Hunter growled as he noticed the other guys in the area checking her out. Tori had been trying to tie a bow at her back, and was startled to feel Hunter's hands brush hers away as he cinched the top around her waist loosely.

"Are you o.k.?" she asked.

"Fine," he said brusquely, "let's go."

With a roll of her eyes, she picked up her bag and held out her hand for the van keys, which Hunter gave to her. "Thanks for stowing my board."

Hunter just grunted with one final angry look around. Tori just shook her head. He must just be in one of his anti-social moods, she thought as they walked to the van. "Want to see if Kelly will give Dustin a break for lunch?" she asked.

"No," Hunter growled as he opened the van door and climbed into the front passenger seat.

"What is with you today?" Tori asked baldly as she stared at him from the open driver side door.

Hunter laid his head back against the head rest and closed his eyes taking a deep breath as he felt the van shift slightly as Tori climbed into the driver's seat and closed the door. "Sorry, Tor, nothing's wrong. I'm just feeling anti-social. I'll do better at lunch," he said with a resigned voice.

A little worried, but willing to let Hunter slide, Tori smiled and said in a gently teasing voice, "You better."

Hunter just sighed again as Tori started up the van. How could he tell her that what was wrong with him? How could he tell her that as he was trying to get the guys on the beach to notice her, for the first time, he really noticed her? How could he tell her that as he watched the guys he had talked to check her out, he wanted to be the only one checking her out? How could he tell her when Shane's cousin casually touched her he saw red? How could he tell her that he realized for the first time that he had totally fallen for her?


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: See earlier chapters

Hunter stared at the phone. He had been staring at the phone for about ten minutes, now and was getting more and more frustrated at himself for not just picking it up and dialing. He thought that knocking on Tori's door the other week had been one of the hardest things he had done. Clearly world saving had nothing on relationships.

Finally with a grunt, Hunter picked up the phone and dialed. With the phone held to his ear, he began prowling the room. He stopped suddenly when the line was picked up and a familiar voice said, "Hello?"

"Hey."

"Hunter, what's up?"

Hunter closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This was totally stupid, but he needed someone to talk to and when he ran down the list of the people who he could talk to about this, he realized in the end that he really only wanted to talk to one person.

"Hunter, is everything o.k.?" He had waited too long and a thread of worry colored the tone of the question.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Hunter was quick to reassure, "I just need to talk to someone. . .no, I needed to talk to you."

"So what's up, bro?" Blake's voice came over the line.

"Hey, have you talked to Tori lately?" Hunter asked starting to pace the room again.

"Yeah, well, we were on IM last night," Hunter could hear amusement in Blake's voice, "I think it was a bad idea to give Janine her e-mail address. I didn't know Tori had so much dirt on me. Not to mention what Janine tells her. Dude, you talked to Omino Sensei about getting the academy guest house for Thanksgiving, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's all set up," Hunter reassured his brother, "I think the guys are going to streak up on Thursday evening and hang for the weekend. It's going to be cool to all get together. Kind of weird with Janine, though. I mean she won't know and like Marah and Kapri are going to be able to keep their mouths shut."

"Yeah, and Cy can't come up," Blake said, "So, what's eating you?" There was a long silence. "Hunter? You still there?"

"I think I've fallen in love with Tori," Hunter blurted out suddenly relieved to get it off of his chest. He collapsed onto the sofa in his office and dropped his head into his free hand.

"Oh, wow, Bro," was Blake's less than intelligent response. Hunter could hear someone in the background and Blake answered, "Hunter just told me he's in love with Tori."

"Did you just tell someone I was in love with Tori?" Hunter exploded in disbelief.

"Just Janine," Blake replied with a smile in his voice, "Janine says go for it."

"Janine says?" Hunter asked, "What do **you** say?"

Blake was quiet for a moment, "Bro, I don't think I can say anything about it. I mean, Tori can make up her mind if she likes you or not. I'm happy with Janine. You want me to like give you permission to date Tori or something?"

"No," Hunter said, "Well, yeah, kind of," he sighed in frustration, "I mean, she was always kind of your girl, you know. Dude, did you know Cam had a thing for her?"

Blake chuckled as he remembered Cam's remarks when Tori had saved him from the Lothor's frog monster. "Yeah, I totally knew."

"And she always had a thing for you. You guys had a thing for each other."

"And now you have a thing for her and she says she's totally over me," Blake replied, "Not to mention, I've got my best girl here."

Hunter rolled his eyes when he heard a feminine giggle. "Yeah, but still. I don't know, I mean, Tori's like the best, you know?"

"Yeah, I know, so maybe, one of the best brothers a guy can have deserves that. So, what are you going to do?" Blake asked, once again amused. Hunter had always been a little socially inept when it came to girls.

"Oh, man, that's another thing. Dude, how do you get one of your best friends to stop thinking of you as just one of your best friends and as a boyfriend? Then, what are the guys going to say? Shane and Dustin and Cam are going to pitch a fit."

"And Cy, don't forget Cy," Blake said cheerfully before complaining, "Ow."

"Hit him again!" Hunter said loudly but only heard Blake laughing on the other end.

"Dude, don't encourage her!"

Hunter smiled. Blake sounded totally happy. Hunter thought back about the years that he spent trying to take care of his younger brother, he and Blake being happy, that is what mattered. He waited for things to calm down on the other end before saying, "So, uh, what do you think I should do?"

"What are you asking me for? Dude, Tori had to tutor me all the way through getting Janine, like I'm going to be any help," Blake said, "Bro, Tori's the one I went to for dating advice. I don't think if I told you what she told me it's going to work. She'd see through that in a second."

"You are not any help," Hunter stated forcefully and stood up to pace again.

"Hunter?" a female voice came over the line causing Hunter to stop his pacing.

"Janine?"

"Hey, hi. Um, don't think I'm butting in or anything, but, you know, since Blake is kind of hopeless with this whole thing," Hunter smothered a grin as heard a protesting noise in the background, "I've been e-mailing Tori lots, like almost every day. She's really cool. I say just tell her. Blake just beat around the bush and never did anything, and he did the same thing with me until Tori told him to do differently. I think she'd appreciate the straightforward approach. If you don't let her know, she'll never even know if she has a choice."

"Yeah, but does she want me as a choice?"

"You'll never know unless you ask. And don't do the subtle crap. Just tell her, 'Hey, I like you, do you want to try this thing.' At least you'll both know where you stand."

"And if I get shot down?"

"At least you tried."

"Bro," Blake said coming over the phone, "Tori's not going to say no."

"How do you know that?" Hunter said scathingly.

"She has good taste in men and she has a thing for Bradleys. Dude, you're a shoe in," Blake sobered, "You know we never even kissed. Don't think she's going to be comparing us or anything."

"I'm so much better than you there is no comparison," Hunter retorted causing Blake to chuckle.

"So go for it," Blake said.

"Love you, Bro."

"Love you, too."

"Love you, too!" Hunter could hear Janine in the back ground.

"Bro, tell her love her, too."

Blake hung up the phone. He gave Janine a sad half smile as she moved to give him a comforting hug. "You o.k.?" she asked.

"You're not upset or anything?" Blake asked.

"Are you?"


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

Tori opened the door to her apartment with a smile on her face. "Hey, Hunter!" she said as she turned to go down the hall to the bedroom that she had set up as an office. "I'm on with Blake, let me just get off IM and I'll be with you."

Hunter stepped into the apartment and closed the door before following Tori down the hall. "Hey, um, I forgot that it was IM night," Hunter said a little awkwardly as he was mentally hitting his head against the wall for being so dense. This was just a bad idea.

He stood at the doorway and watched her type on the computer with a small grin on her face. Then, there was a puzzled frown. She typed a little more then gave a small huff and rolled her eyes. Hunter just smiled at her expressions. You always knew how Tori felt because everything showed on her face and she never bothered to hide her emotions. "Get over here, Hunter. Blake says he wants to tell you something."

Hunter came around the edge of the desk and looked at the two screens open on her computer. While he scanned over Blake's last message, a request that he talk to Hunter, Tori continued to type to someone else on the other screen. "Who's that?" Hunter asked skimming what Tori was typing.

"Janine," she replied absently.

Hunter grinned. Now Blake was trying to get Tori to go into the other room so that he and Hunter could talk in private. Tori complained about this to Janine and Janine sent back a little yellow happy face rolling about and laughing. "Well, I know when I'm not wanted," she muttered and after signing off to Janine, stood. "Have you eaten, yet? I have a small roast in the oven."

Hunter looked at her and said, "I could eat."

She narrowed her eyes, "You could also wash the dishes afterwards."

Hunter just laughed as she walked out the room before sitting in her seat. Hunter clicked on the message screen for Blake.

BlueT: Hey, Blake. It's Hunter.

FactoryBlake: Is she gone?

BlueT: Yes.

FactoryBlake: So you going to tell her?

BlueT: She's making something to eat, right now.

FactoryBlake: TELL HER

BlueT: Maybe, I got to go.

Hunter quickly clicked the screen closed and stood. He looked at Tori's small study, the pictures on the wall of her family and friends. There was a picture of all of them at the Nationals and one at their ninja graduation. There was one of Tori, Marah and Kapri at the beach and another of her, Cam and Shane at the track. There was a picture of Blake and Tori sitting next to each other at the top of the cliff overlooking the beach. Blake had his arm around her and she had leaned her head on Blake's shoulder. Something must have made them laugh because Tori had a wide smile and Blake's eyes sparked with laughter. There was another one of Tori in a flowing evening gown. The fabric draped over her form in soft layers. She was laughing as she stood on the edge of a fountain, the bottom of the dress pooled around her as she held up a part of the skirt as she dipped her toes in the water.

"Hey," Tori said stepping up next to him.

"When was this?" Hunter asked pointing at the photograph.

Tori rolled her eyes. "Remember last year when I went to my cousin's wedding? Katie, the bride, dared me to go splash in the fountain of the hotel. Needless to say, the photographer caught the picture, my dress got soaked and my mom was mortified. Dad just laughed and got a copy and framed it for me."

"It's a great picture," Hunter said softly, "You look beautiful in it."

Tori turned to Hunter with a smile on her face, "Thank you, Hunter."

Hunter grinned back at her, "So how come I don't have any pictures of you?"

Tori blinked at him. "You don't have any? You want one?"

"Sure, my rooms at the academy are pretty sparse. Having a photo or two might help," Hunter said taking a step back and putting some distance between them.

"I'm sure we could find one, or just ask Marah for one. I bet she has some," Tori shook her head in exasperation. "I don't know what Dustin was thinking of when he got her that digital camera. She kept taking pictures at the academy and of us in our ninja gear and Cam had to keep going in and deleting all the ones that would blow our ninja cover." Hunter chuckled and shook his head. "Anyway, you ready for dinner?"

"Always," Hunter replied and he slipped a casual arm around Tori as she led the way to the kitchen.

The sat and chatted about the academy and the latest crazy antics of Dustin, Marah and Kapri. Hunter told Tori about the fire that a thunder ninja started on the gazebo roof as Omino Sensei was sitting in it and how Shane and he were planning on taking out Kelli for her birthday. Hunter, as usual, ate twice as much as Tori and very happily moved to do her dishes as payment for the meal.

"So, Tori, what are you up to this weekend?" Hunter asked as he finished loading the dishwasher.

"Nothing much," she replied as she pulled out a carton of ice cream and two spoons.

She moved to the couch and Hunter followed looking over the selection of DVDs before picking one and popping it into the player. He sat next to her and she companionably handed over the remote and a spoon. Hunter started the movie and grinned as the credits started rolling. He loved gory horror flicks, the scarier the better and while Tori didn't share his love, she was a good sport and occasionally picked one out for them to watch.

"I was thinking, maybe we could go out."

"Yeah?" she replied distracted as she popped a bit of ice cream into her mouth and offered the carton to him.

He dug out a scoop and casually waved the spoon about as he spoke. "Yeah, you know, dinner, dancing."

"Huh, there's a thing on Pier 32 this weekend. I think some kind of fair. I think there's dancing after dark. You want to call the guys?" She confiscated the carton back from Hunter.

Here is was. Hunter could say yes and it would be the gang going out or . . .

"No, Tor, I was planning on making reservations at Koga's. I want to get all dressed up. I just want us to go out."

Tori stopped digging in the carton of ice cream. As if moving in slow motions, she put her spoon in the carton and placed the carton on the coffee table in front of them. She took the remote from Hunter's hand and placed the movie on pause before putting the remote down next to the ice cream. She shifted so that she was sitting on the couch facing him and asked very seriously. "Hunter, are you asking me out?"

His eyes met hers and just as seriously as she asked, he answered. "Yes."

"Like on a date?"

"Yes."

"You and I?" Tori paused for a long second, "On a date?"

"Is that so hard to believe?" Hunter suddenly shot up off the couch and ran his fingers through his hair. He started to pace the room, "I like you, Tori, I think I may more than like you. I think I want to spend even more time with you than I usually do. I want the guys at the track and at the beach to stop flirting with you so I can stop glaring at them all the time. I want . . ." he stopped pacing and almost threw himself on the couch with an arm over his face. "I really wanted to not mess this up."

Everything was quiet and still for a moment, then Hunter felt Tori move. Her fingers lightly glided along his forearm until she reached his wrist and gently pulled his arm down. He turned to look at her and she had a gentle smile on her face. "More than like me?" she asked.

"Yeah. How do you explain it, Tori? I mean, you know I love you, and I know you love me, but I want more. How do you figure that out, you know? It's had me all mucked up for the past week. Then, I figured you'd know, because you felt that more for Blake. But after the whole Blake thing, how do you feel that for me?" Hunter sighed as he moved his head back to contemplate the ceiling. "I really wanted to not mess this up."

Tori's lips twitched as she said softly, "You already told me that." She had laid his hand palm up on her thigh and was playing with his fingers, pushing them flat and rubbing circles on his palm with her thumbs. She finally linked her fingers with his. "When do you want to go out?"

"Saturday."

"Good. You want any more ice cream?"

"No."

Tori smiled as she let go of his hand and stood to take the ice cream carton to the freezer. When she got back, Hunter had started the movie over. Tori tilted her head, watching him for a moment, and then as if making a decision, she sat down next to Hunter, curled her legs up onto the sofa and gently leaned on him. Hunter shifted a bit, so that he could slip an arm around her and Tori nestled a little closer to get comfortable before laying her head tentatively on his shoulder. Hunter leaned his head a bit and casually, brushed his lips over her forehead before turning his attention to the TV. He couldn't stop the grin that broke over his face when Tori slipped her arm around his waist and ignoring the film completely, fell into a contented sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Please see previous chapters.

To: JLangley at Factoryblue . com

From: BlueSurferChick at bbhcomm . net

Re: OMG

HUNTER ASKED ME OUT!!!

To: BlueSurferChick at bbhcomm . net, HBradely at Thunderacad . org

From: BBradley at FactoryBlue . com

Re: Friday Night

Have Fun!

Love to the both of you,

Blake & Janine

Hunter had just finished his three o'clock class and dismissed them with a wave when he noticed that Dustin, Shane and Cam were walking across the practice field with grim determined looks on their faces. Fearing the worst, Hunter quickly approached them, "What's up guys?"

"Aren't you going to tell us?" Shane asked.

Hunter looked from one to the other a bit confused, "Tell you guys what?"

"About your big date tonight?" Shane continued.

Hunter blinked at them at a loss for words. "I think this should be done in my office."

"How about your rooms, instead," Cam said with a wry smile, "You still do have to get ready."

"Okay," Hunter said drawing out the vowel sounds as he turned and led the way to his rooms in the main building of the Thunder Academy. He noticed that there were a number of worried looks as students and teachers watched Hunter flanked by three Wind Ninja instructors walk across the filed, into the building and through the corridors until they reached his room.

They filed in silently and Cam shut the door firmly behind them his lips twitching in amusement as he noticed the curious students and teachers in the hallway. Having grown up at an academy all his life, he knew that right now, the halls would be full of speculation. Getting his features in order, he turned to face Hunter who was standing in the center of the room a little stiffly as he eyed Shane, Dustin and he.

"You could have told us," Dustin accused. He had been fidgeting in the silence and clearly could no longer hold in what he wanted to say. Cam and Shane sighed in joint exasperation. "I mean, totally, bro, we had to find out from Marah and Kapri wasn't too happy that she told and Cy knew, he was just sitting at the computer smirking and acting all proud of himself and, dude, we're like your best friends and stuff."

Hunter sat down onto a cushion on the floor by the low table. He had kept the tradition of a Japanese style room and furniture in his rooms. He placed his elbows on the table and dropped his head into his hands, "Yeah, and here comes the inquisition," he said sarcastically, "Dudes, I totally knew you all bagged on Blake about this whole Tori thing. I was trying to avoid that."

"Well, we're going to bag on you anyway," Shane said.

"I didn't do anything, yet!" Hunter protested. "Tonight is our first 'date.' I don't even know if she's going to get into the whole liking me thing. Dude, I wouldn't be worrying about me hurting her." He absently rubbed the heel of his right hand over the center of his chest.

Cam, ever the observant one noted, "You're more worried that she's going to hurt you?"

"Yeah, well, I don't know, maybe?"

Shane sat down next to Hunter and gently whapped him on the back of the head, "Of course she likes you, you doof."

Hunter glared at Shane but was then forced to smile in response to the grin that broke across Shane's face, "Yeah, I mean, we're friends and all, but dude, I think I'm in deep."

"No problem," was Dustin's advice as he took a cushion across the table from Hunter, "Just don't do what Blake did. That's how Marah and I got together."

Everyone looked at Dustin for a stunned second. Then, almost as one, all the guys shook their heads to clear their minds. Dustin had an odd knack of doing the right thing, saying the right thing, or being at the right time, however, never all three at once. Most times, the guys would hear what he said, but just not choose to comment on it, like now.

"Guys I appreciate that the witch hunt has turned into a support group session, but I think this is something that I have to handle, you know, just between me and Tori," Hunter said with a small grin.

"Yeah, well, we just, you know, wanted . . ." Shane broke off waving a hand aimlessly in the air.

"To let you know you are going to get your butt thumped if you mess with her like Blake did," Dustin jumped in with an excited bounce as if he was just waiting for Hunter to mess up and because he did not get a chance at Blake, Hunter would just have to do for both of them.

Cam just rolled his eyes, "Let's go, guys. Hunter's stressed out enough over this. You guys don't need to help."

Hunter shot a quick grin at the three guys and walked them to the door. Ritual hand bumping and male hugs with back-slapping commenced before Hunter said, "Thanks, guys."

"Dude, you are at least brining her flowers, right?" Dustin said as Cam and Shane were practically dragging him down the hall. "She likes lilies."

Hunter knocked on the door of Tori's apartment and shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot as he waited for the door to open. He held his breath and smiled as he heard footsteps approaching the other side of the door. He extended the hand that held the bouquet of lilies and was started when the door opened and a flash went off in his face temporarily blinding him. "Awww, he brought her flowers!" Marah squealed and she quickly took another picture of him, once again blinding him before the flowers were plucked from his hands.

"Woah, Marah, those are for Tori!" Hunter protested following her in blinking and shaking his head.

"We know that," Kapri said meeting Marah and Hunter in the living room taking the flowers from Marah and heading into the kitchen, "Good thing we brought over a tall vase." Marah nodded giving Hunter a beaming smile before she brought up the camera to take a picture of Kapri arranging the flowers in a vase.

Hunter followed them, "What are you guys doing here? Where's Tori?"

"Oh, she's getting ready. We helped," Marah said as she turned to him and took another picture.

"She'll be out in a second," Kapri said with a smile.

"Maybe I should go check on her," Marah said and she practically skipped out of the room.

Hunter watched her leave in a bit of a daze. Maybe girls' getting together before going on a date was some odd female ritual that he was sure he would never understand. He was startled by Kapri's suddenly harsh voice.

"You do know what will happen if you hurt her, right?"

Hunter laughed, "Yeah, all the guys were over earlier and ambushed me after classes."

"Oh, I'm not talking about them," Hunter looked at Kapri and was surprised by her serious expression, "Marah and I may be on the side of good, now, but we were evil space ninjas. If you hurt Tori, at all in any way, the guys are the least you have to worry about. See, Tori was always nice to us. Treated us like girlfriends, helped Marah and Dustin get together after the whole beevil thing and accepted us without any reservations after we joined the school. She even let us dress her up again after that crazy camera shoot we did." Kapri's mouth now curved into a small smile.

Hunter walked up to Kapri and pulled her into a gentle hug. "I'm going to do my best not to do anything to make you mad at me." He said, "I don't want to hurt Tori, but sometimes, in relationships, that just happens because two different people getting together is hard. I tell you what, though, if I ever hurt her and need to be taken apart for it, I promise to tell you first, before the guys can get their licks in, how's that?"

Kapri giggled and poked him playfully before stepping back, "I'm holding you to that, buster."

Hunter and Kapri heard Marah clearing her throat and they both looked over towards the hallway. Tori, with a bit of a self-conscious smile on her face stepped out of the bedroom and walked down the hall. They stopped at the doorway to the kitchen and Marah pointed out happily, "He brought you flowers."

"Look at you," Hunter breathed as he looked his fill. Her long blond hair was curled and while most of it was piled on her head, strands fell around her face and shoulders. Her face was lightly dusted with make up, enough that her skin looked flawless and her blue eyes were accented. She wore a flowing blue kerchief top over a slim denim skirt that ended just above her knee. Black strappy sandals with a heel displayed her toes, manicured pink for the evening.

"You don't look too bad yourself," Tori smiled as she walked up to Hunter and tugged on the lapel of the dinner jacket that he wore.

"Well, were off!" Kapri said as she dragged Marah who was taking pictures of Hunter and Tori as they smiled at each other.

"Thanks," Tori called, not taking her eyes from Hunter. The door closed on one last snap shot and a giggle and Tori and Hunter were alone. Suddenly a bit nervous, Tori bit her bottom lip.

Hunter smiled and asked, "Do you know what I want to do when you do that?"

"Do what?" Tori asked.

"Bite your bottom lip."

"Nervous reaction," she said.

"Yeah," Hunter leaned in and was pleased when Tori moved in closer, lifting her face until their lips met for a long sweet moment. He broke the kiss and whispered, "I've wanted to do that for a long time."

"Yeah, that was pretty good," Tori said a little breathless.

Hunter pulled back and took Tori's hand and pulled her towards the door, "Dinner?"

Tori couldn't stop the bright smile that came across her face, "Yeah, I can't wait."

"Neither can I."

END

A/N: Thank you to all those who have been reading and reviewing this story. I appreciate the feedback and comments.


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